Free Speech Shoe

On the Other Foot

 



People have been asking me what I think of all these disruptive protests occurring recently at townhall meetings about health care. Some protests have been so rowdy that they sent members of congress fleeing in fear of their own constituents. Naturally seeing politicians being yelled at is always delightful, and one might argue that screaming at politicians is something we should have taken up years ago. I only wish our congress-critters Richie Neal and John Olver would hold town meetings so that we could go and yell at them, but they are considered royalty who are automatically returned to office and therefore needn't interact with the public so directly.

Yet despite the virtue these protests have of frightening politicians, I condemn anyone who goes to any meeting anywhere with the intention of preventing another person from speaking. I have written for years in condemnation of incidents at the University of Massachusetts, where instead of conservatives it is leftists who have repeatedly disrupted political gatherings. In the most recent incident, former Boston Herald columnist Don Feder was driven from the room.

 

In these cases I am virtually the only one to give any coverage to these incidents, although the Valley Advocate did print an essay critical of the leftist protesters by Cathy Young of Reason magazine. It was quickly followed by a letter to the editor from someone named Marlena Fontes who jumped to the leftists defense:

Cathy Young's article "Intolerant of Dissent" [May 21, 2009; on the appearance of conservative columnist Don Feder at UMass] rests on the idea that all free speech should be protected and listened to politely. It seems she misunderstands the meaning of free speech, which is a protection from government intervention into that right rather than insulation from outspoken community dissent. Or rather she seems to understand that freedom of speech should be part of a large agreement, which is only kept by naive liberals, to listen politely and nicely to all people even if their speech is violence-inciting, hateful and racist. This is not say that Feder should not have been allowed to speak, but a community has the right to respond.

I can't wait to read Ms. Fontes' undoubtedly forthcoming letter to the Advocate in which she now defends with equal passion the disruptive conservatives "right to respond."

Some observers have found the Left's sudden passion for uninterupted free speech now that it is the Left's congresscritters under attack, more than a little hypocritical. When it was right-wingers being shouted down like at UMass, we heard phrases from the Left like "free speech is not absolute" or "the community has a right to respond." Now when it is non-leftists doing the shouting, it is denounced as un-American by President Obama and the protesters are compared to Nazis by House Speaker Pelosi. I guess one person's Nazi is another person's champion of social justice, depending upon whether a conservative or a liberal is doing the protesting.

This orgy of hypocracy probably has more to do with human nature than politics. After all, it is just plain easier to feel outraged when someone you agree with is silenced than it is when it is someone whose views you didn't like to begin with that are being suppressed. We like to think that people are above that kind of shallowness, but the truth is they often are not. 

Many people's understanding of the meaning of free speech is, "I get to say whatever I want, but anybody I disagree with should shut up." That is why it is necessary to be so vigilant in defending free speech, because it is never more than a minority of the public who fully understand that the speech we must most vigorously defend is the speech that we most passionately disagree with.

Democracy doesn't work unless everyone gets a chance to air their opinion. Once we've heard every side, only then can we determine what we want to do based on the best arguments. We cannot make an informed decision however, if anyone is being shouted down. That doesn't mean that you can't bring signs or otherwise peacefully and respectfully express your objections to the speaker. Protest yes, but censor no.

Cool Pic

Stormclouds over Northampton by Bill Dwight.

Today's Video

Crosby and Nash gettin' down to Pink Floyd

Low BID

Poor Turnout But a Good Time

 

Pulaski Park bus stop graffiti

 

The rally in opposition to the Business Improvement District (BID) last night was something of a dud. Not many people showed up, and even the official Poverty Is Not a Crime banner (below) which has appeared at all previous rallies was missing.

Still, it's always good to see activists in action, whatever the numbers.

The littlest protester was Laranetta - age one week old.

Writer and radio personality Mary Serreze came by on her bike.

Also there was Northampton's sweetheart Kelsey Flynn.

It wouldn't be Northampton without dining suggestions. 

The real celebrity appearance however was the arrival of the King of the Panhandlers Motown Bernie, shown here with protest leader David Beyer.

Chanting and waving signs, the small band headed towards the municipal office where the City Council was meeting.

Once inside, the protesters lined the back wall of the Council Chamber.

This was the first City Council meeting in Northampton I've ever attended. I went to plenty of them in Springfield, and as in Springfield, Northampton has a public speakout before the meeting begins. However in Northampton the public speakout period is televised. In Springfield the local machine wouldn't allow it, lest subjects be raised, views expressed and facts be revealed that they did not want known to the wider public.

Here is Motown Bernie addressing the Council.

Sadly, the whole protest had an air of futility to it. The BID has already been approved, and everyone seemed at a loss as to how to stop it from being implemented. There was hope that at some point the Americian Civil Liberties Union might get involved, but until then it looks as though the pro-BID forces are victorious. 

Around Amherst

It's raining like mad today, which makes me yearn for the peaceful sunny moments I spent earlier this week at the Amherst Resevoir. 

At UMass I like the new landscaping going on behind the science buildings.

This parking lot definitely was not here when I was a UMass student.

 



People sometimes ask me what has changed the most about UMass since I was a student in the late 70's. They're surprised when I reply, "All the new parking lots." When I was a student going without a car was just one of the sacrifices you were expected to make for your education. The idea was that you would walk today to get the education that would buy you a Cadillac in the future. Damn we were gullible in those days.

Today almost every student has a vehicle, and actually in my day there were in fact some students who had cars. They were mostly girls whose rich daddies bought them for them as high school graduation gifts and who covered all the bills. Those girls had lots of dates, even if they were fat and dull. 

 

Two Artifacts From 1985

Robert Hunter and Jorma Kaukonen in New York City; plus a ticket for the Dead in Worcester.

 

Feder Fiasco

Hecklers Ruin Free Speech Talk

 



Hey people, I just ten minutes ago came from the speech scheduled this evening at UMass by former Boston Herald columnist Don Feder on the issue of hate crimes and free speech. Ironically, the speech was unable to be delivered due to constant interruptions and insults from people in the audience who seemed to have come specifically to cause a disturbance.

I got a chance to speak with Feder for a few moments. He asked me whether I thought many people in the audience read the mostly conservative Boston Herald, and I had to be honest and tell him no. He kindly posed for this picture.

Security was tight, with police removing those who seemed likely to be disruptive before the speech began.

Campus media was on hand, shown here interviewing protestors. 

No sooner did the speech begin than all hell broke loose as some audience members picked up their chairs, turning them around before reseating, thereby symbolically and literally turning their back on Feder.

From there the situation rapidly deteriorated as Feder was repeatedly interupted by ridiculing laughter and insulting taunts, until the police no longer tried to intervene, perhaps fearful of sparking a riot. Finally Feder stormed angrily from the podium in disgust, but was convinced by UMass Republican Club members to try one more time to give his speech.

Feder tried again to speak several times but it was hopeless. He finally left the stage for good, not before at one point shouting angrily at the protestors, "Hurray for you, you won you Nazis!" The protesters replied by cheering and chanting, "Don't come back!" The whole scene was Orwellian.

I wish I could have gotten some decent video, but the outbursts were sporadic, perhaps because of the menancing police movements that would cause the protestors to suddenly fall silent before I could video anything. Many other people had cameras, so perhaps something interesting will surface on YouTube in the coming days.

Prominent Valley activists were in attendance. There on Feder's side were GOP Springfield City Council candidate John Lysak and fatherhood activist Mike Franco.

Also present was Northampton's David Beyer, a key player in defeating the Hamp panhandling ordinance. 

In all it was yet another embarrassment reflecting the difficulty UMass has in protecting free speech on campus, and is an incident certain to receive heavy play in the conservative media and beyond in the coming days.

Hampshire College's Proud Dead Legacy

 



Hampshire College in Amherst is a school with a rich history involving the Grateful Dead. In the 1980's the college served as an international clearing house for the trading of bootleg Grateful Dead tapes, and through the Hampshire College Grateful Dead Historical Society helped make Hampshire nationally known, at least in Deadhead circles. The head of the society was John Dworken (above) who got a degree from Hampshire in Frisbee throwing and went on to write an award-winning encyclopedia of Grateful Dead live shows. According to his web biography:

Johnny is a two-time world flying disc (Frisbee) freestyle champion. He holds the world's only Bachelor of Arts degree awarded for "Professional Flying Disc Education" studies from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA.

For ten years, Johnny edited and published Dupree's Diamond News, an internationally distributed rock music magazine that, at its' peak, enjoyed a circulation of 35,000. He is widely recognized as one of the world's foremost Grateful Dead and Jam Band scholars. His award winning 1800+ page, three volume encyclopedia - The Deadhead's Taping Compendium: A Guide To The Music Of The Grateful Dead On Tape, was published by Owl Books.

For more than a decade Johnny served as the founding creative director of Speed of Light Productions, presenter of the world's most visionary multi-media light show Experiences. As Rabbi of the Phurst Church of Phun and as a minister in the Universal Life Church, Johnny officiates weddings and other such important life ceremonies for members of his extended community.

These days, Johnny dedicates many of his off hours to the study of alchemy and the directing of Mytheogenesis - a progressive think tank of philosophers, healers, and artists dedicated to creating widespread societal paradigm shifts in thinking and lifestyle through art and ritual. 

Johnny is a nationally renowned master of the tribal art of fire dancing. He specializes in dancing with unusual flaming props, such as platonic solids, and the choreography of large-scale fire dance ritual theater set to live music. For more than a quarter of a century Johnny has been a social and environmental activist, developing ways in which to transform the hard work of saving our world into a fun, attractive, graceful dance.

Here is the cover of issue Number Two of the Grateful Dead Historical Society newsletter published in 1981:

Here is an advertisement by Dwork himself begging for Dead and Hot Tuna tapes.

This is a cartoon explaining why someone might choose to attend Hampshire College, as well as an advertisement for a notorious local mystic: 

Now if Hampshire College could only get their graduate documentary filmaker Ken Burns to do a film about the Grateful Dead!

Cold Rain and Snow

Today is one of those uniquely miserable New England weather days when it is too warm to snow but the rain is like an ice bath. It was so raw out that even the usual circus in front of the Haymarket Cafe was absent.

One bit of good news in Hamp is the announcement that the gay store Pride and Joy has been purchased by out of town buyers.

 



Everyone was resigned that it would go out of business, so this is a pleasant surprise.

When I got to UMass today the football team was collecting bone marrow donors. 

My brother used bone marrow techniques combined with stem cells to escape an otherwise incurable form of cancer.

I stopped for a snack at Earthfoods in the Student Union, where I came across this photo and recipe abandoned on one of the tables. 

UMass, where you find the damnest things just lying around.

That's Not Funny!

Depressive Humor

I didn't post anything yesterday because I spent the whole day in bed sick.

Nevermind my health, should I start dyeing my hair? Anyway I couldn't stand not feeling well enough to do anything, yet forced by illness to just lie around. Good thing I recovered quickly or I may have slipped into a suicidal depression. But at least then I would've been fashionable, with down in the dumps being all the rage these days.

Every Sunday since 1979 a so-called "peace vigil" has been held on the Amherst Town Common. Last Sunday they were handing out flyers with the following images on one side. Notice how Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is portrayed as a villain now that the Obama Administration has become the caretaker of the "war machine."



What is really infuriating to the peacers is Obama's announcement that no significant troop reductions in Iraq will occur for at least a year - which is essentially the same timetable as the Bush Administration intended. Meet the new boss - same as the old boss!

Now that's depressing.







Here's a comic book whose time has come around again: Despair Comix! I had a copy of this R. Crumb classic years ago, but I lost it on my various adventures. However I recently became aware of a friend's copy and so I give you this sampler:

Shifting from despair into tragedy, sometime this summer I want to explore the cemetery across from Wildwoods School in Amherst. It's too muddy now.

There is nothing morbid about my interest in cemeteries. I see them not as buriel grounds but as databases. For most people, especially before photography became commonplace, a cemetery headstone was the only permanet record of their lives. There's a story behind every stone, and not always a happy one. Take this one from that Amherst cemetery, for example. 

Wow, just thirty years old, and with his own graphics company! The unique headstone is a good reflection of his artistic nature, yet that somehow makes it even more poignant. Well, at least when you die young no one can accuse you of not fulfilling your potential. Death is the one airtight excuse for failure to achieve!

Sometimes when I fret about getting older, I try to remember to be grateful that I've survived to have a life at all. Many of my friends who did not live as recklessly as me are gone, and that makes me believe that I survived for a purpose - if only just to tell their stories. In any case I try to keep in mind the wisdom of that Pine Point philosopher Mean Mary Jean who once said, "Whenever I find myself worrying about getting older, I remind myself of those I knew who were denied the privilege."

Amen.

 

Today's Video

Freddie Mercury of Queen was so flamboyant that people didn't always notice what a fantastic band he had. Unfortunately, Mercury was promiscuous even by queer standards, allegedly taking on up to three or four partners at a time, and ended up dying of AIDS at the peak of his career. Too bad he didn't live to see today when the chorus to this song is sung by the audience of every sports stadium in the world.